The present invention relates generally to a computer-implemented method, and more specifically to a computer-implemented method for managing listing prices in an ecommerce environment.
Over the past decade or so, the growth of ecommerce sites has been phenomenal. Of such sites, eBay is by far the most successful. As of this writing, eBay has hundreds of millions of users worldwide, and has revenues exceeding seven and a half billion dollars. Of these users, many are sellers who use eBay as a means to supplement their income.
Given the vast number of users making purchases via ecommerce sites like eBay, sellers are constantly looking for methods of distinguishing themselves and their goods from those of other users, and for methods of increasing the total number of sales they are able to achieve on the ecommerce site. Books, audiovisual materials, and internet web sites are devoted to strategies for increasing sales on ecommerce sites, and specifically on eBay.
Typically, a user or seller lists an item on an ecommerce site, along with a price for the listed item. Should the user wish to reprice the item, it is often done manually. Repricing may be desired for a variety of reasons, including gaining or retaining a competitive advantage over other sellers who are selling the same item. Researching all identical or similar listings in order to determine the optimal price at any given time is inefficient, and for users with many listings on a given ecommerce site, may be time-prohibitive. Automated repricers are available for sites such as Amazon.com and Half.com, which are 100% catalog-based. Such repricers are also available for certain cataloged categories on eBay. Non-cataloged sites, however, and non-cataloged categories on eBay, do not have such automated repricers due to hurdles presented by the non-cataloged nature of the sites or categories and the requirements that non-cataloged items be compared by an automatic repricer.
What is needed, then, is an easy to use, automated method for sellers who wish to reprice items for sale on an ecommerce site according to chosen parameters and settings chosen by the seller.